The ‘Facebook Phone,’ an Experiment With Big Potential

Facebook is set today (1 p.m. ET) to unveil what’s being called in some quarters the Facebook phone. While it’s not really a phone (at least the indications so far are that it’s not a phone), it is one more brick in the foundation of Facebook’s mobile strategy, which for many is the key growth driver for the company.

“It’s best characterized as an experiment,” Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at research and consultancy firm Ovum said this morning on the Markets Hub. The product likely unveiled today will be basically a Facebook-based homescreen that would replace screen on phones that use Google’s Android operating system, and would have all the social-media site’s features “front and center.”

“It’s going to take over the homescreen,” Dawson said.

“It’s potentially a big deal,” he said. It goes beyond what Facebook’s done previously with mobile, but the real question will be whether or not users actually want this, he said.